On this day in 1833, Clonmel-born William J. Duane was appointed US Secretary of the Treasury by President Andrew Jackson.
William John Duane was born in Clonmel in 1780. In 1796, his family emigrated to the United States and the young William got a job as a compositor (a person who arranges type for printing) for Philadelphia’s ‘True Believer’ newspaper and then the ‘Aurora’ newspaper. It was at this time that he developed an interest in political issues.
In 1809, Duane won a bid to become a member of the Philadelphia House of Representatives as a Republican. Two years later, after failing to gain re-election, he pursued legal studies and by 1815, he was admitted to the bar. In 1819, he returned to the state legislature in Philadelphia. After joining the Select Council of Philadelphia in 1829, President Andrew Jackson made Duane his commissioner to Denmark.
When conflict over the efficacy of a national bank arose during Jackson’s administration, he appointed Duane as the 11th ever United States Secretary of the Treasury. The secretary of the treasury is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States and serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all matters pertaining to economic and fiscal policy.
Unfortunately, the new cabinet member did not hold his post for long due to a disagreement with Jackson. After three months in office, he resigned (or was removed depending on what sources you refer to) and returned to his legal practice. Jackson said of Duane: ‘he is either the weakest mortal, or the most strange composition I have ever met with’.
William J. Duane died in 1865 and is buried in Laurel Hill cemetery in Philadelphia.
Sources:
https://millercenter.org/president/jackson/essays/duane-1833-secretary-of-the-treasury
https://home.treasury.gov/about/history/prior-secretaries/william-j-duane-1833
https://www.history.uscg.mil/Browse-by-Topic/Assets/Water/All/Article/2459044/william-j-duane-1841/
